Spring wire clip



Allg. 22, 1939-. C, CANF|ELD 2,170,586

SPRING WIRE CLIP Filed 001;. l, 1936 2 3 4 S 6 7 5 .9 lo

0 up 4. 122 Il 12 |5 I4 l5 la |7 I5 ls i 2o ll LI f z| zz z3 24 z5 xs 27 z z s sa 7 .n sa.: s u s4 u as .1c ll v u a i a u 4 l zo Patented Aug. 22, 1939 p UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE 3 Claims.

E This invention relates to spring wire clips,

Vand among other objects, aims to provide an. im-

proved spring wire clip which may be emp-loyed with a display rack to separate or divide stacks of cards, or single articles, arranged in horizontal rows on the rack. The improved clips also have other uses and are not limited to employment on display racks. The display rack shown in the drawing is claimed in a divisional application, le'd by me on February 25, 1938, Ser. No. 192,618.

The invention has other objects and advantages which will be understood from the following description of the preferred embodiment thereof which is shown in the accompanying drawing.

In said drawing- Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a display rack shown equipped with the spring Wire clips of the invention, the hidden portions of one of the spring clips being shown in dotted lines.

Fig. 2 is a top plan View of the same.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the spring clip dividers.

Referring particularly to the drawing, there is shown a display rack comprising a frame-like support I D having a plurality of uprights II (only one of which is shown) and inclined braces I2, one at each end. The two vertical members II carry an upright bracket I3 on which a shelf I4 is mounted, said shelf I4 providing a convenient means for holding an advertising sign by which customers of the store may be informed` of the character and price of the goodsl displayed on the rack.

At the front of the rack there is a bumper strip I 5 preferably vertical and secured to the forward ends of the horizontal members of the support I0. The bumper strip I5 protects the articles located adjacent it from being soiled or displaced by passersby. It also strengthens the base or sup-port and enhances the appearance of the display rack. The inner face o f the bumper strip I5 is grooved as indicated at I6 to receive the forward edge of one of the shelves I'I provided for the support of the articles to be displayed.

The cards or other articles are held in troughs provided by the shelves I'I and shelf backs I 8, said shelf backs preferably extending at acute angles to the shelves to which they are attached. As the shelves I1 are preferably disposed at an acute angle to the horizontal, the shelf backs I8 preferably extend at an acute angle to the vertical and preferably the shelf backs, while extending the full length of the display rack, are of various Widths and are so arranged that the Widest sheli` backs I8 are toward` the real` of the display rack. The shelves Il may also be of varying widths, the widest shelves being at the rear of the rack. Thus provision is made for adequately displaying greeting cards of several different sizes. Preferably the rearmost article-receiving trough provided by the rear shelf Il and its back I8 is rigidly secured to the several uprights II, but the other article-receiving troughs may be removable and to this end said troughs may rest on the inclined braces I2, which may be notched on their upper edges as indicated at I2a, |20, etc. The forward edge of the front shelf I1 is preferably received within the groove I6 and hence is easily removed from the bumper strip and the support. As shown, the front edge of each shelf is beveled so as to lie flat against the rear surface of the shelf back immediately in front of it. Also, as shown, the inner edge of each shelf has openings I9 to facilitate the removal of dust from the bottom of the trough.

To separate the articles being displayed, a plurality of spring wire clips are employed, each embodying the present invention. One of these clips, as shown in Fig. 4, is composed of a single piece of wire bent approximately in its middle to form a relatively narrow loop 2U and a pair of substantially straight arms 2 I, 22, preferably disposed at an acute angle to each other and lying in the same plane and spaced from the straight intermediate portion 23 of the clip. The loop 20 is of such width as to fit over the top edge of a shelf back I8 so that the clip resiliently grips the shelf back. The other end of the wire is bent to form a relatively large preferably U-shaped loop 24 which is at right angles to the plane of theA arms 2 I, 22 and which is therefore at right angles to the surface of the shelf back I8 when the clip is in position. As viewed from` the front the described clip has the shape of the numeral li. The spring clips may be moved longitudinally of the shelf backs and hence their positions may be adjusted to t cards or articles of various sizes which may be displayed upon the rack. It is obvious that a considerable number of cards bearing the same message may be placed in a stack between two of the wire clips and will be held in the pocket provided by said clips without 'the possibility of being mixed up with dissimilar cards on either side. It is also clear that the resilient curved end 25 of each spring wire clip may be sprung outwardly and hence may hold a card or series of cards in a stack, in which case the wire clips act not as spacers or dividers but as resilient gripping means.

It Will be apparent that the described display rack facilitates the display of goods of this character and the replacement of articles sold from the rack. Furthermore, a large number of articles can be displayed from the rack as there is no waste space. The rack e'ects an economy in time of the sales person and also minimizes the number of cards or other articles which are likely to become soiled, hence unsalable, because of handling, it being unnecessary to handle any of the cards in order to read their messages.

derstood without further explanation.

Obviously the present invention may be embodied in several forms neither shown nor described.

Having described one embodiment of the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A clip made of a single piece of resilient Wire bent near one end to pro-vide two substantially straight arms at an angle to each other; another straigli't intermediate portion separated by a The invention has other advantages which will be un-l bend from, and being parallel to the plane of the two arms and spaced a suiicient distance from said plane to permit an object to be gripped resiliently when placed between the tWoarms on one side and the intermediate portion on the other; the intermediate portion being at right angles to one of the arms; and a large card-holding and card-separating loop lying in a plane at right angles to the same arm to which the intermediate portion lies at right angles, said loop being adjacent to the intermediate portion and comprehending practically all the remainder of the length of the wire which forms the clip.

2. The invention according to claim 1, wherein the loop is Wide and. generally U-shaped; the intermediate portion being connected by a loop,

which is narrow relative to the U-shaped loop, to one of the arms.

3. The invention according to claim 1, wherein the locpy is U-shaped and the end of the wire adjacent the loop is reversely bent; the wire between the intermediate portion and the arms being bent into a loop which ts over an edge or end of the article gripped by the clip.

CHARLES H. CANFIELD. 

